Shadow Adventure
by NetBladeZero
Summary: Shadow the Hedgehog novelization. Since they seem to be so popular around here, I decided to write one.
1. Chapter 1: The Black Arms World Conquest

**Shadow the Hedgehog: Puzzle of the Past

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CHAPTER 1: The Black Arms' World Conquest

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"It is now time," says an alien life form, viewing the earth from space. The alien's "fortress'' had finally reached the vicinity of the blue and green planet. "full speed ahead!" the alien says. The alien's soldiers somehow make the burning space rock they are all boarding go much faster. The comet its the earth's atmosphere. The comet starts to burn more, and pieces of it break off. "Stop!" the alien leader yells. The soldiers make the comet go back, hovering just above a dome shaped metal spaceship. "It appears the velocity of the Black Comet is not strong enough to pass through another planet's atmoshere. I'll just have to send my army down in small numbers. Ready the Black Cloud!" Tons of soldiers got to a large room and start to jump into a giant black and red cloud. The cloud starts its journey toward earth. "Now go! Start by going into that large city." the alien says, pointing to a city on the planet. "This is going to take longer that I assumed, No matter, I'll just use him." 

Down on Earth, it is a sunny day. The wind gently pushes against the grass and the trees' leaves. A lone hedgehog stands, arms crossed, his red eyes frozen in concentration. He has black fur woth crimson strips on his quills, and a crimson stripe on his forehead leading black to his quills. He has four quills that point upward, and two that point down. He has a white tuft of fur on his chest. He wears white gloves on his hands, white and black shoes on his feet, each shoe with a red bottom with miniature jets on the bottoms. He wears golden rings on his wrists and ankles.

A newspaper is blown towards him as the wimd grows stronger. It is caught around his leg, but the hedgehog ignores it. The title of the newspaper says "FIRE-IN-THE-SKY-FESTIVAL. Celebration! 50 year return of Black Comet." The newspaper blows away, going wherever the wind carried it.

"Shadow the Hedgehog," the hedgehog says. "Why does that name haunt me? It's the only thing I can remember, and that gruesome image."

The hedgehog close his eyes.

* * *

_The hedgehog runs down a dimly lit corridor, holding the hand of a young, blond girl wearing a blue shirt and a white blouse. Both are panting heavily. They reach a dead end and turn around, facing a group of four soldiers with black uniforms with a white G on their helmets. They have goggles with 6 red "eyes" on them. The girl gasps and reaches for Shadow. One soldier raises his gun and fires at the girl._

_"MARIA!"

* * *

_

"Who am I...And why can't I remember anything? And...Who is this Maria?"

Suddenly, the sky grows dark. A humongous black and red cloud passes over the hedgehog and heads for the center of the nearby city, Westopolis. the cloud stops above the center, and the lightning repeatedly strikes in the very center of the cloud, and hords of black creatures, some flying, drop down into the city. There are explosions, and fires start.

"Hmm, look how pathethic they are," says the hedgehog. "I don't have time for these humans."

The hedgehog starts to turn and walk away, but something stops him.

"Shadow..."

The hedgehog's eye's widen at hearing his own name. He turns around to see what looks likie a big starfish with 6 tentacles. In the center is a snake like eye. The eye glows and projects an image if an alien. He is black, with two pointed portrusions on either side of his head with red tips. He has 3 red eyes two at the bottom and one at the top. The top eye is similar to the eye on the starfish like thing. He has no mouth, but bags that get bigger as they go down his face. He wears an emourmous shirt, with huge sleeves that conceal his ams, only revealing his three clawed hands. He wears a chain around his neck that hangs down both shoulders. The chain has some sort of artifacts on it. he also wears two shoulder pads and two scarves hang down his back. He also wears a necklace with different colored stones on it. No lower body is seen.

"As you can see, the day of reckoning will soon be here." the alien says. "Find the seven Chaos Emeralds and bring them to me, as promised."

"Huh?" Shadow says. "Who are you, and how do you know I'm Shadow? And what are you talking about?"

The hologram disappears and the star-shaped alien flies off. Shadow reaches out but explosions blind him. The smoke soon clears.

"What was that all about?'' Shadow says. "If he says he knows the truth about who I am, that like it or not I have to believe him. The only way I'm going to get the secrets of my past, is to get those Chaos Emeralds!" Shadow says, clenching his fist in front of him. And with that, he skated off towards Westopolis on his air shoes.

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Elsewhere, Sonic, a blue furred hedgehog with quills that point back, a yellow underbelly, green eyes, white gloves, red shoes with white stripes and yellow buckles on them is chillin on the couch at Tails, a yellow fox with two thick yellow tails with white tips house, watching TV. he is flipping through the channels, when he stops on a channel showing a giant black and red creature with gigantic spikes on it's back land on top of a car and toss an incoming one into a nearby building. Another giant creature holds a police car above it's head. Soldier's of G.U.N.(Guardian Units of Nations) shoot at it rapidly with with rifles, having no effect on it. The creature tosses the car into some other soldiers, blowing some a few feet away. 

"Cool, monster movies!" Sonic says. "About time I found something to watch!"

"This is the scene all over Westopolis as these unknown black creatures continue to fall from a mysterious red cloud and cause ruin",says a female reporter in the TV. She barely escapes as another police car is tossed at the camera, cauesing the screen to go to static.

"Hey, this is no movie!" Sonic says. "We've gotta do something about this!" Sonic speeds out the door and towards Westopolis.


	2. Chapter 2: The Loner's Choices

Shadow the Hedgehog: Puzzle of the Past

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CHAPTER 2: The Loner's Choices

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Shadow entered into the city, was launched into the air, and found himself falling in the middle of four buildings that made a square around him. giant lasers blasted down on the city below him, destroying things. Shadow was not focused on the lasers. He was thinking about what the alien had said to him. "Hmm..'the promised time', huh? Well then, time to fulfill this promise." he says. 

Shadow fell through the sky for exactly 19 seconds before being launched into the air again. He landed on top of a building. He looked down. Dragon like black and red creatures flew around, tackling soldiers. Muscular black creatures with yellow eyes and spikes all over their bodies and three-clawed fists, some armed with alien weaponry, attacked soldiers. Shadow looked up to the sky and his body was covered in a blue aura. He disappeared in a blue light, using a technique called Chaos Control. This technique lets the user move incredibly fast. Usually a Chaos Emerald is needed to use this, but Shadow can use it at will.

Shadow appeared in front of a Black Hawk, a small dragon like black creature with dragon like wings, a tail and four yellow eyes, but no legs. Shadow did a spinning kick, knocking it down to the ground. He disappeared in a blue light again, appearing in front a Black Warrior, a muscular black creature (description above), and hitting it with a two fisted slam. He then disappeared again and appeared before another Black Warrior holding a silver laser. He hit it with another spinning kick. All three are knocked down. He then appeared on the ground, kneeling on one knee.

A giant, more muscular version of the Black Warrior with big spikes on his back, known as the Black Oak, stands, flames around him roaring, arms in the air. Shadow sees a fallen GUN soldier. His machine gun is on the ground next to him. There is alo a motorcycle. Shadow grabs the gun and gets on the motorcycle. He revs it up, and charges straight toward the Black Oak. Two Black Hawks fly behind him. Shadow turns his head to face them, and turns back to the Black Oak. He crashes the motorcycle into the huge creature, it exploding in the process. Shadow flips back into the air off of the motorcycle just in time. The Black Hawks fly in front of him. Shadow takes them out with his machine gun, firing like crazy.

Shadow lands on a pile of rubble and finds some ammonition for his machine gun. He loads it in, and slowly walks off the pile, back into the battle.

"Hey Shadow, long time no see!"

Shadow turns to see a blue hedgehog. "Hmm. I don't have time for you right now." Shadow says. "I need to find the Chaos Emeralds, and these black creatures are getting in my way."

"But I need your help. I've been fighting those black creatures too, and I can't do it alone. They really mean business! Let's you and me show them a thing or two!"

''Okay, but only because I need your assistance also."

Sonic and Shadow run ahead, destroying many black creatures. They get to an area where a group of soldiers are fighting one Black Warrior. Despite their numbers, they can't defeat it. Sonic notices a cage with a glow coming from the interior. "Looks like that black creature is keeping that cage closed." Sonic says. Shadow jumps up and takes out the creature with a Homing Attack. The covering of the cage slides down, revealing a green Chaos Emerald.

"That's a...Chaos Emerald!" both hedgehogs exclaim. Shadow grabs it, and stares at it, the green glow reflecting in Shadows eyes. "With that Chaos Emerald, you can unlock unlimited power!" Sonic says. Shadow holds the emerald in the air. "Grab on to my arm, Sonic." Shadow says. Sonic does so. The emerald glows. "RRRggh! Behold the ultimate power!" Shadow says. "Chaos...CON-TROL!!" He is coverd in a blue aura and he and Sonic fly extremely fast, fast forwarding through the city, destroying any unsuspecting black creature in their path. The aura wears off and they stop. In front of them is the starfish like alien from before.

"You are late, Shadow," the alien's voice comes from the star shaped alien. "Allow me to introduce myself properly this time. I am Black Doom. This thing you see is my eye, Doom's eye. From now on my eye will follow you and observe you for me. Now start by finishing off those soldiers who dare to defy me!"

"Hmm...no."

"What? What is this defiance?!"

"I said no. I have no reason to attack these soldiers."

Black Doom is silent, very surprised. Doom's eye flies away.

"Now, Sonic, let's take care of the rest of these black creat-"

"There he is!"

"Black hedgehog sighted."

A group of GUN soldiers slowly approached Shadow and Sonic. They began firing their guns at Shadow. He dodges most of them but is hit in the right side of his chest by one. Shadow gets very angry and starts to be coverd in a red aura. He almost attacks when Sonic stops him by grabbing his arm.

"Shadow, no! Don't attack the soldiers! Things'll only get worse!"

"RRghhh!" Shadow says, trying to calm himself down. "Huh... huh.. hmm. Okay Sonic. Let's go."

Both hedgehogs run from the soldiers. They get to a clearing, where many cars and buildings lay in waste. "There's another one!" Shadow says, catching sight of a blue Chaos Emerald. He dashes toward it and picks it up.

"Finally,"he says. "Now we can get out of this city."

The soldiers appear once again. They point their guns at Shadow. Red dots(targets) appear all over his body.

"RRggh!" Shadow says. "I helped you ungrateful humans. I refused to attack you. This is how you repay me?"

Shadow slowly walks toward the soldiers. They fire their guns at him rapidly, but the bullets bounce of his body, which is now enveloped in a red aura.

"Get away from me, humans!" Shadow says, his fists clenched in front of him. "Chaos...BLAST!!!"

A red explosion blows out of Shadow's body destroying many things and blowing away the soldiers. Shadow walks up to one soldier who is laying on the ground. The red aura dies off. Shadow steps up to the soldier, and stares down at him, his teeth gritted and a look of pure anger on his face. Nearby flames reflect in his eyes.

"Shadow, stop!"

Shadow turns to see Sonic. "Let's go Shadow," he says. "I just searched the rest of the city, and there are no more Chaos Emeralds!"

"Okay, Shadow says. "But first..."

Shadow raises the blue emerald in the air. "Disgusting black creatures, get out of my sight." he says. "Chaos Control!"

Time freezes, and Shadow moves really fast, destroying the remainder of the Black Arms in the city. Time resumes, and Shadow is back with Sonic. They both run off.

"This was very unexpected," says Black Doom, Doom's eye watching the whole thing. "He disobeyed me. He requires more persuasion."


	3. Chapter 3: Black Arms on the Run

Shadow the Hedgehog: Puzzle of the Past

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CHAPTER 3: Black Arms on the Run

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"Now that was sweet, Shadow." Sonic said as the two hedgehogs ran along. 

"Hm. Well It wasn't to save you."

"Thought you might say something like that. How 'bout a little friendly competition?"

"Don't waste my time."

The two hedgehogs saw the star shaped alien, Doom's eye, float past them. "We've found the third Chaos Emerald in this city. Our mission here is done. Now get going!" the eye said.

"So he's already found the emerald!" Sonic said. "Guess that means...welcome to the next level! Let's go!'

_Black Doom still tries to get me to obey him?_ Shadow thought._ I already told him NO!_

"Hey wait, get back here," He said chasing after Sonic, who ran off. He easily caught up to Sonic. He was about to say somehting when they both heard a sound like a jet. They looked up to see a black jet with wings that curve forward, a few feet above them. Green energy comes frim the wing as it flies. Red dots are all over the back of the jet.

"What is THAT?" Shadow said. "Some alien ship?"

"Hmm, looks like those black creatures have turned tail and ran!" Sonic said. "Let's follow their tank and finish 'em off!"

Blue waves of light came from the back of the jet, and it boosted forward. Sonic and Shadow chased after it. Sonic jumped up and used the Homing Attack on the jet. A transparent cyan-colored shield appeared, blocking him.

"That barrier seems to deflect attacks," said Sonic as he landed on the ground. "We need to find a way to destroy it, and fast too, before they escape the city with the third Chaos Emerald!"

Sonic and Shadow continued to pursue the jet. The jet dropped a purple bomb that attached itself to the road. As soon as Shadow and Sonic were close to it, it exploded, crumbling the road under them. Both of them fell, and the jet gave itself a second boost. Sonic and Shadow landed in a large hole.

"Oh no!" Sonic said when he realized the ditch was too deep to simply jump out of the top. "What'll we do?"

Shadow tried to hover to the top using his jet shoes, but the jets stopped before he could get high enough.

"No!" Shadow said, falling to the ground. "It's all over? Already? This can't be!"

Shadow began to be covered in a red aura. His pupils glowed red. Knowing what was about to happen, Sonic braced himself.

"Chaos...BLAST!" Shadow yelled as he let the explosion loose, making the big hole wider. A wall was blown apart, and he and Sonic ran out of the ditch.

"Good job, Shadow, you got us out of there! But that alien ship...just took off! We've gotta catch up!"

"No problem," Shadow said, and pulled out the blue Chaos Emerald. "Grab my arm!...Chaos...Control!"

Time froze, and Sonic and Shadow moved at supersonic speed. When time resumed, the black jet was in front of them.

"Alright, Shadow," Sonic said. "Now let's do this."

Shadow picked up a nearby automatic gun. He began shooting at the ship, and the same barrier appeared. Every bullet bounced off. With every impact, the barrier seemed like it was taking damage. Glass-like pieces of the shield fell off.

"Look! That shield's not invincible!" Sonic said happily. "We just gotta keep attacking!"

With that, Sonic jumped up and kept Homing Attacking th e jet. Shadow stayed in the ground and bombarded it with bullets. The shield changed from cyan to a light green.

"That's it!" said Sonic. "It's getting weaker!"

Sonic keeps Homing Attacking, and Shadow keeps shooting. Shadow runs out of bullets, tosses the gun and jumps up and does a Homing Attack, destroying the shield.

"Okay! One final attack and-" Sonic said, but was cut off buy the jet, which made a peculiar noise. A smokescreen came out of the back of the jet, obscuring it from view. When the smoke cleared, the jet was nowhere to be found.

"Great, just great," Sonic said. "Now we've gotta find it all over again."

Doom's eye appeared in front of them.

"Shadow...I told you that my soldiers had already secured the emerald. That's what you want, right? Then obey me and get out of the city!" Black Doom said. "Oh, and just in case you decide to disobey again..."

Three Black Oaks and eight Black Warriors fall from the sky. Six Black Hawks fly into the area. Doom's eye flies away.

"Normally I'd be happy to fight these creatures," Sonic said. "But right now we need to make this quick, we've gotta locate and take out that ship! Are you able use Chaos Blast?"

"No. It takes a lot of power out of me to do that. Also, I need to be very angry to use that."

"Well. I guess we have to take 'em out the old fashioned way." Sonic said, and jumped up. He Homing Attacked toward a Black Warrior, but ti shot him with a silver laser. Sonic landed on the ground and rubbed his head.

"Ouch," Sonic said, got up again and ran back toward the aliens.

Shadow raised the green emerald into the air. "Chaos-" was all he was able to utter before a Black Oak grabbed him with its enormous clawed hand, and Shadow dropped the emerald. He could not pull out the blue emerald because the Black Oak was holding him tightly in his hand and his arms were trapped.

"The emerald!" Sonic yelled and ran towards it, but the other two Black Oaks, and the Black Warriors surrounded him before he got there. They jumped on him in a dog pile. At this point, Shadow was getting very angry as he struggled. He was covered in the red aura. The Oak dropped him because of the high temperature of Shadow's body. Shadow landed on his feet.

"Chaos...BLAST!"

All the Hawks and Warriors were defeated. Only one Oak remained. It swung its humongous purple club at Shadow, but he caught it, and crushed it with his hand. The Oak started to back away. Shadow flew towards it with super speed, appearing before its face. Shadow punched it and the Oak exploded. Shadow landed on the ground, and the red aura faded away. He picked up the green emerald.

"Wow..." was all Sonic could say. "I'm speechless...Well, let's go find that alien jet!"

The two hedgehogs raced off. At the end of the highway, they saw the black jet, landed on the ground. Doom's eye was there, too.

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**I hope I did a good job on not just typing EXACTLY what happens on the game! Please tell me if I did, A Doubtful Sound**! 


	4. Chapter 4: The Bull's Awakening

Shadow the Hedgehog: Puzzle of the Past

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CHAPTER 4: The Bull's Awakening

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"Hand over that Chaos Emerald, or else," Shadow said, putting his hand out as if he expected to receive the emerald just by asking. 

"So, you think you stand a chance against ME?" Black Doom said through Doom's eye.

"Look hard through your little eye, Black Doom, and listen." Shadow said, "I take orders from NO ONE. I just need the Chaos Emeralds, so hand over the one you've got!"

"You still don't know your place, do you?" Doom asked. "You WILL learn obedience! Black Bull, I summon you!"

A giant black and red blob rises out of the quaking ground. It has fleshly wings, one big yellow eye, and an insect-like mouth. It let out a roar, and the city rumble.

"Black Bull, burn the entire city and its inhabitants to ash!" Doom commands, and with that, Doom's eye turned and flew off.

"Woohoo!" Sonic said. "Look at you, big guy!"

"Black Bull, huh?" Shadow said, "Doesn't look like any bull I've seen."

"Shadow, let's hurry and beat this guy, okay? We've gotta find Doom's eye! And by the way, why do you need the emeralds anyway?"

"Well Sonic, it's sort of embarrassing to say, but ever since Rouge found me a while back, I haven't been able to remember anything except my name, and the word's 'Ultimate Life Form'. Also there is the memory of me running through a metal hallway with a blond girl, and a GUN soldier shooting her."

"Oh...I feel so sorry for you."

"Hm, well your the first."

"Well Shadow, I'll help you find the truth. I do know some things, about you being discovered by Eggman, but nothing about any blond girls. Although, that hallway sounds very familiar..."

"Huh? What do you know-" was all Shadow could say as he saw a giant fireball from the corner of his eye. Both hedgehogs jumped out of the way and the fireball hit the ground, leaving a black scorch mark.

"Guess he got tired off sitting around waiting!" Sonic said.

"Okay Sonic, time to wrangle this 'bull'!" Shadow said as her got up and skated toward Black Bull. He jumped up and Homing Attacked it, but he bounced off.

"Shadow, that thing's blubbery body defends against our attacks," Sonic said. "But there's gotta be some kind of weak point."

Black Bull began to fly away. "Oh no you don't!" Shadow said, and chased after it. Three Black Warriors land in front of him, and he skidded to a stop in his jet shoes.

"I don't have time for this!" Shadow shouted. He punched one in the gut, grabbed it, and threw it into another one. He jumped toward the last one and did a spinning kick. It dropped a silver laser. Shadow picked it up and caught up with Black Bull. He pointed the laser toward Black Bull's body, but realizing the shots would merely bounce off, he pointed the laser toward the only thing not made of blubber: the yellow eye.

Shadow fired the purple beam at the eye, and Black Bull roared in pain.

"That's it!" said Sonic, "The eye is it's weakness! Keep firing!"

Shadow continued to fire at the eye until the laser ran out of energy. Black Bull fired circles of fire that expanded as they lasted. Shadow and Sonic jumped up, nearly being burned. Black Bull let out another loud roar, and three Black Hawks flew out of its mouth, and Black Bull ascended to a higher altitude.

"Ewww," Sonic said, "Those things frickin' LIVE in that things mouth? Disgusting!"

Shadow, however found himself without a weapon and it impossible to reach the creature's eye.

"Hey Shadow, you can use those other creatures he spits out as stepping stones!" Sonic said.

"Hmm?" Shadow said, looking at the Black Hawks. "Sonic..that was... I can't believe I'm saying this about Sonic...Brilliant!"

"Aww go on!" Sonic said, his arms behind his head, and his eyes closed, a smile on his face.

Shadow ignored Sonic and ran toward the Hawks. He Homing Attacked the lowest one, and used the bounce to attack the next. He repeated this until he was as high as Bull. Before gravity worked against him he pulled out the blue emerald.

"Chaos Control!"

Time froze and Shadow flew toward the eye with his jet shoes and punched the eye like crazy. Time resumed and and Shadow and Bull began falling down. When Shadow was next to Bull's mouth he noticed a fireball inside and was hit by it. He was sent away and almost landed on Sonic if he hadn't have moved.

"Yes! End of the line for you!" Sonic exclaimed as Black Bull disappeared.

"Huh?" said Shadow, getting up. "Where's the emerald?"

"Great," Sonic said. "It was a trick to get away with the emerald, and we fell for it."

Shadow began to walk off.

"Hey Shadow, where ya goin?" Sonic asked.

"I'm finding Black Doom! I will get the emerald!"

Suddenly, a hologram of Black Doom rose out of the ground. "You wanted something, Shadow?" Doom said.

"Yes, I want that emerald, now! As you can see, I defeated your little pet bull!"

"Yes, but you deliberately disobeyed me Shadow!"

"I don't care why you need the emeralds, I have my own reasons for collecting them!"

"You don't remember anything, do you? It seems Professor Gerald must have done more to your memory than I imagined."

"Professor Gerald? Who is that?!"

"Strange...you don't remember your maker.."

"What'd you say-"

"Silence! The ramifications of your disobedience will be severe!" Doom pulls out a Chaos Emerald and holds it into the air. "Chaos Control!"

There was a flash of light. "No, Shadow!" Sonic said and jumped toward them. The light disappeared and they were gone. Sonic landed on the ground.

"Shadow..." Sonic said.

* * *

Shadow woke up. He rose, holding his head.

"Ugh..." he said. "Where..where am I?"

The sky was blue. He was in some sort of ancient temple. Dust was everywhere and torches burned on the walls.

"Whoa...guess I underestimated his powers. There's something going on with his plans. It's up to me to find out what he's up to!"

* * *


	5. Chapter 5: Treacherous Temple

Shadow the Hedgehog: Puzzle of the Past

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CHAPTER 5: Treacherous Temple

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"Hmm," Shadow said, running down a very steep hill. "I don't remember this place at all...But I do know there's an emerald somnewhere in this wasteland." 

When Shadow reached the bottom of the hill, he saw GUN soldiers with machine guns fighting off some Black Arms. He walked up the normal-looking stairs and into the battlefield.

"How in the world did GUN get here?" Shadow said.

A red echidna was helping the soldiers. His quills were fashioned as dreads. He used his huge, white, boxing gloved fists to attack, using the small spikes on knuckle area. In fact, his name was Knuckles.

"Hey Shadow!" Knuckles yelled, punching a Black Warrior in the gut. "Fancy meeting you here! Those black creatures are all over the place! This must be some kind of base for them!"

Shadow was about to speak. "Look out behind you!" Knuckles said.

Shadow turned around as a Black Warrior swung at him with a purple and red blade. Shadow ducked and punched it in the gut. He grabbed the sword and slashed at the creature and it disappeared.

"Alright Shadow!" Knuckles cheered and ran up to Shadow. "I wonder where those things go when they're destroyed."

The ground underneath Shadow and Knuckles. It started to crack. They jumped away as a huge black and red worm burst its way upward through the ground.

The worm had no eyes, but the front end of it split into about six tentacles, each with a red tip. Purple gas was emitted from the center of its "face". The other end of the worm stayed buried in the ground.

Shadow punched at the body of the worm, but to no avail. The worm's thick body protected against such attacks.

"Shadow, maybe it has a weakness," Knuckles said.

Shadow looked at the creatures "face". He remembered how Black Bull's eye was its weakness. (hee hee hee, Bullseye) There was a silver laser that a defeated Black Warrior left behind. It split into two lasers at the front. Shadow grabbed and aimed for the "face."

After a few shots, the worm broke apart into black pieces, which all disappeared. Shadow was fond of this alien gun, so he kept it.

The two ran along until they reached a cliff, and no further path.

"A dead end," Knuckles said. A giant tornado suddenly formed sweeping up rocks in its wake. Pieces of the cliff broke off and were sucked in.

Knuckles and Shadow ran back to where the came as the tornado sucked up chunks of the cliff. They were not fast enough to escape. The cliff broke off, and it was sucked in, along with them.

"We're being sucked in!" Knuckles yelled, pointing out the obvious.

They were carried to another path, and amazingly landed n their feet. There, Doom's eye waited.

"Shadow..."

"Black Doom." Shadow said.

"Good to see that you're awake. Now you must power up our temple. Touch the jewels all around the temple to unleash their power."

"What do you mean 'our' temple?" Shadow asked.

"Never mind. Do it!"

"Alright." Shadow said. He did not want more problems. He knew how powerful Doom was. He figured the only way to avoid him was to deceive him.

"I'll be watching, Shadow." Doom said and Doom's eye flew off.

"Shadow," Knuckles said. "Your not going to obey him, are you?"

"What harm could there be? It's just some old temple," Shadow said.

"I hope you're right," said Knuckles.

They came to a wall. It had a drawing of a bird on it.

"I wonder what this is.." Knuckles said.

He reached for the wall, and it slid up. Black Warriors, and statues of Black Oaks were in there. In the center of the room rested a big spherical, light green jewel on a pedestal. The jewel itself was the size of a beach ball.

As Shadow and Knuckles walked into the room, the statues turned as they walked past.

Shadow turned around. The statues were completely still. Shadow noticed they were facing him, whereas before they were not.

Knuckled crossed his arms. "I can't shake the feeling I'm being watched."

"Yeah, I think it's those statues." Shadow said. He walked up to the jewel. He placed a hand on it. It felt warm. When he removed his hand, the jewel started to spin, and shone with a green glow.

"Jewel number one," Shadow said.

They exited the room and got to another dead end. Another tornado welcomed them.

"Looks like the only way to advance is to take our chances with the tornado." Knuckles stated.

The two jumped into the twister, and landed on another path. This path was long and skinny, and falling over the edge meant death.

Shadow and Knuckles began to run. They dodged big pieced of rock that were thrown at them by a tornado beside the path.

Knuckles punched through a slab that was coming his way. "Make sure those boulders don't hit you! You don't want to fall down there!"

Shadow heeded Knuckles words. He saw a piece of the temple coming towards him. He jumped over it, only to be greeted buy another rock. Before he was hit, he pulled out the green emerald.

"Screw this! Chaos Control!"

Time stopped, and Shadow punched through the rock. They both ran to the end of the path. Shadow saw the end and stopped running but Knuckles did not. He fell over and grabbed onto the edge. Time resumed.

"Shadow, help me!" Knuckles screamed.

Shadow grabbed Knuckles arm and pulled. Knuckles was no featherweight. It was very hard to pull him up.

A rock was coming straight for Knuckles. "Shadow, hurry!" he yelled.

Shadow pulled harder, and leaned back. His jet shoes turned on and gave him the boost he needed. He and Knuckles flew back and landed on the path.

Knuckles got up slowly. He panted heavily. "Thanks...I owe ya one, Shadow."

"Please, don't mention it. I mean really. Don't. Ever."

"Alright, fine." Knuckles said, dusting himself off. "I won't."

Shadow turned forward. "Chaos Control!"

Shadow was covered in a blue aura and teleported to the other side. Knuckles glided there.

_Sometimes I just don't get you, Shadow_, Knuckles thought.

They came to another gap. A floating platform lay in between them, but higher, with another green jewel. No way of getting up there was in sight.

Shadow saw gusts of wind flowing up from in between the gap. Shadow decided to take his chances and jumped. He was carried up by the wind to the platform.

He touched to the jewel and the same result came. It shone brightly. Shadow and Knuckles jumped into the gusts and were lifted to the other side of the gap. They ran to an empty part. Pillars began to fall down and roll toward them. They dodged them and were sucked into another tornado. They landed on the pathway.

Three platforms floated in midair. Shadow and Knuckles jumped from platform to platform.. Shadow touched another jewel along the way.

They got to an open area where GUN soldiers were facing Black Arms. The last jewel was there. Shadow touched it. This one glowed more brightly than the others did when touched.

The whole temple quaked. Doom's eye appeared.

"Well done, Shadow," Black Doom said. "Now I have another job for you. Eliminate the echidna. He has been somewhat of a thorn in my side."

With that, Doom's eye flew off. Shadow faced Knuckles.

"Shadow...what're you think you're doing?"

Shadow jumped toward Knuckles. He tackled him to the ground. Knuckles threw him off with his mighty fists. Shadow jumped up and used Homing Attack. Knuckles caught him. Shadow remained in ball form, still spinning rapidly. He began to blow with white light. White balls of energy surrounded him.

Knuckles could not hold onto him much longer. He was knocked to the ground as Shadow used Light Attack. Shadow uncurled and landed on the ground. A yellow Chaos Emerald floated down into Shadow's hand.

"Sorry Knuckles, but all I need is the emerald."

A yellow light engulfed Shadow, and he disappeared. Knuckles lay on the ground, in pain.

"Shadow...How could you?"

* * *


	6. Chapter 6: Charmy and the Secret Discs

Shadow the Hedgehog: Puzzle of the Past

* * *

CHAPTER 6: Charmy and the Secret Discs

* * *

A middle-aged, gray haired man stood watching the monitors on the wall of his base. No soldier knew his true name, all addressed him as Commander. He had one red eye and one green eye. Both of these stayed focused on th monitors. 

A GUN soldier ran into the room.

"Commander, the black aliens have hit six major cities." he said. The latest and worst was Westopolis. It had the most casualties because of its weakened defense system. Downtown Westopolis has been almost completely destroyed. Unconfirmed sources report seeing a black hedgehog-"

"Shadow?" the Commander said, cutting of the soldier. This was exactly what he'd needed to hear. The time had come. "Where is he now?"

"The team at Prison Island say he's been spotted there. There are black aliens there too."

"Good. Tell all the troops on Prison Island that if they find Shadow with the aliens, then kill them all!"

"But sir, isn't Shadow on our side?"

"I gave you an order, soldier! He's evil and he's the enemy!"

The soldier decided it was best not to argue and ran out of the room.

"You can't fool me, Shadow." Commander said. "This time, you're mine."

-------------------------------------------------

**Prison Island **

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Shadow slowly walked toward the two human beings, who happened to be soldiers. They pointed the muzzles of their machine guns at the hedgehog.

Attention..emergency broadcast to all mobile units. A voice from their walkie-talkies buzzed. Headquarters to all mobile units. Be on the lookout for Shadow, the black hedgehog, wanted in connection with the terrorist attacks. Last seen in the vicinity of downtown Westopolis. Orders are...capture him, dead of alive.

Shadow heard all of this, and although he wondered why he was wanted, he didn't care. He could destroy any human unfortunate enough and stupid enough to get in his way. In fact...

"Outta my way, coming through!" Shadow demanded, walking faster toward the soldiers, who backed away in fear. They had heard of Shadow's powers. They knew of his deadly Chaos Blast. They did not wish to anger him. But, they had orders.

"S-Stop," one soldier nervously said.

"Don't move or we'll sh-shoot!" said the other soldier.

"Stupid humans..." Shadow said as he leapt up to one soldier's face. The soldier was too frightened to move. Shadow smacked him across the face, knocking him down. The other soldier walked toward Shadow. A foolish mistake. Shadow knocked him down with a spinning kick, sending him to the ground along with his fellow soldier.

Shadow walked on, not looking back on the two now unconscious humans. He remembered the words Black Doom spoke to him when he arrived at Prison Island: "Put an end to their military might!"

Shadow was determined to do this. He continued walking. Suddenly, he felt throbbing in his head. Shadow had never felt this feeling before, and he didn't like it!

"Ugh!" he shouted as he placed his gloved hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. He saw a picture of a base. In it was some sort of pod. Inside the pod was...himself!

The image faded.

"So that's it.." Shadow said. "I escaped from somewhere, and was then captured by the humans..But where did I escape from? Hmm, I guess I'll find out soon."

-----------------------------------------

**Chaotix Detective Agency**

**------------------------------------------------**

"Work work work work work work work!" said an annoying bee as he pounded the green phone receiver over and over on a desk. His arm he used for this was a blur. He was a bug, after all, and bugs can move their legs very fast.

A purple chameleon meditated, or should I say _tried _to meditate while hearing this. A vein was visible on his forehead. He could not take it any longer.

"CHARMY, stop already! Doing that is not going to fix the phone!" he yelled in a voice so loud that it should have scared the bee out of his wits, but didn't because he was used to being yelled at.

"Chill out, Espio," Charmy said, and continued to pound the phone.

Espio pulled a shuriken out, but realized what he was doing and put it back.

Fist shaped imprints appeared on the door. It was flung open by a punch from a green crocodile wearing a towel, a scrubber in hand.

"What is all that ruckus!" he demanded. "I'm trying to take a bath here!"

"Who else," answered Espio, pointing a thumb at Charmy.

The crocodile grabbed Charmy by his helmeted head. "You," he said. "Stop doing that! The phone doesn't work, and smashing it to bits won't make it ANY better!"

"Alright, Vector," the bee said.

"Good." he placed the bee down on top of the desk. Happily, he walked back toward the bathroom.

"But I'm just SO bored!"

"Well then find something to do!"

"Okay..."

Vector went back to his business. Charmy searched through the whole room. He would pick something up, examine it, and throw it behind him. He did this over and over again. He threw a stuffed bear behind him. It hie Espio on the head, who had started to meditate again.

Charmy found a red walkie-talkie. He remembered this from when they were employed by Dr.Eggman. This thing hadn't worked since then. He shook it and heard some loose things inside. He looked at it once more, and threw it behind him. When it hit the ground, Charmy heard the sound of a radio signal.

He flew over to the walkie-talkie and picked it up. It buzzed to life in his hands.

--Chao-bshhhh-ive Agency, come in. Chaotix -bshhh- come in!--, a voiced buzzed from the speaker.-- I require your services. I need you to go to Prison Island and retrieve 5 discs. They contain valuable data that will be of use to me.--

"You know, we don't work for free!" Charmy said.

--I know. I will pay you greatly.--

"Okay then." said Espio, who had stopped meditating to listen. The unknown person cut off.

Vector had his bare feet up on the edge of the tub. He heard a faint buzzing sound. It got closer and closer. Charmy burst through the door of the bathroom. He tried his best to slow down when he saw Vector's feet but could not. He ran into it, and his face was planted in Vector's sole. The smell was, well you know.

"Eww eww eww eww eww!" yelled Charmy, placing his small hands around Vector's foot and pulling himself off with his own feet. He wiped his hands down his face repeatedly. He shook his head rapidly as if there was mud or something on it.

"Your fault." said Vector. "What's going on?"

"We've got work." answered Espio, who walked in. "We need to go to Prison Island."

"I think Charmy should go." Vector said.

"Really?Yay!" yelled Charmy. "My very own mission!"

"But Vector, why?" Espio asked.

"He's the only one who can get there. Prison Island is, well, an island! It's surrounded by water, and you and I can't fly."

"Okay, Charmy, you have to be seriou-" Espio said but noticed Charmy had already used his little wings and flew out of the building.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7: Revenge and Determination

Shadow the Hedgehog: Puzzle of the Past

CHAPTER 7: Revenge and Determination

Shadow jumped out of the way of a GUN mech's bullets. These mechs were large, bulky robots with tank treads as feet and were either armed with rifles, machine guns, missile launchers or cannons. The mech followed Shadow with it's gun, firing it wherever Shadow went.

Shadow pointed his hand forward and launched himself towards the mech. He attached himself to his target and jumped off. While in the air, he waved his hand to the right. Pointed darts of energy formed.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow said, and fired the sharp energy arrows at the mech. Each spear punctured a different part of the mech and exploded. Robot parts flew everywhere.

"I...remember that attack," Shadow said. "But when was the last time I used it?"

Shadow decided to hold that thought for a while. He landed on the ground and started walking. "I'll find out soon," he said. "But for now, I must destroy these military robots."

He came to a dead end. Any further advancement was impossible, for there was an enormous downhill ramp covered in yellow acid, acidic enough to dissolve skin and bone. Two Black Warriors were stationed there.

"Can you see the threat the humans pose to this planet, Shadow?"

Shadow glanced to his right to see Doom's eye. It looked back at him.

"Shadow, use one of our air saucers." Doom's eye said and fled.

Shadow looked at one of the black warriors and noticed it was occupying an air saucer. He expected a fight, but as he walked toward it, it obediently stepped off and allowed him to use it. Shadow stepped onto the saucer. It was a small, flat and round, with jets around under the platform. Glowing green light came form the jets.

Shadow placed his right foot in front of his left and moved it forward on the platform. The saucer slowly hovered forward. He continued this until he started his descent down the downhill ramp. The saucer hovered over the green liquid, protecting Shadow's body against the burning acid. This form of transport took some getting used to but Shadow got the hang of it.

As the saucer hovered downward, it picked up speed. It was headed for a wall! Shadow moved his left foot to the right but had to do this more forcefully to make the speeding saucer turn. He barely avoided the wall; the side of the saucer scraped against it with a screeching sound. The saucer leaned to the right a little but Shadow was able to make it level once again.

He rode the device down the river of acid. A solid platform was coming into view. Waiting on that platform was one of those bulky GUN mechs. It pointed the red laser from its large missile launcher. A yellow target formed around Shadow's body. He jumped up and off the alien disc and spun gracefully in the air, dodging the incoming missile that had been fired by the mech. The missile missed him by a few inches and destroyed the saucer. The pieces sank into the acidic river, dissolving as they met their fate.

Shadow landed on solid ground in front of the mech. It turned slowly on its tank-like treads, but was eliminated by a group of Chaos Spears before it could face the black hedgehog. Shadow did an about face to see three more mechs traveling his way. He waved his hand to the left, creating three large Chaos spears for each. He fired them off, each of them destroying a different mech as they foolishly kept heading toward them.

"Hmm, this is getting very boring," Shadow said. "How about I just destroy the entire island!"

Shadow jumped high in the air. He moved in a 360, creating huge Chaos spears all around him. There were about 50 of them! He was ready to fire them all off at once when he felt a finger tap him on the soldier.

He turned around at the exact second, sending a chaos spear the person's way. The small person flew quickly out of its way using his clear wings, avoiding an instant impalement.

"Hey what was THAT for!?" asked the angry bug.

"Who are you? What do you want with me? Why are you here!?" Shadow demanded.

"I..I gotta ask you something..."

"What?"

"Well, Vector and Espio need me to find five top secret discs, and I can't find them anywhere!"

Shadow landed on the ground. "Vector? Espio? Who are they?"

"You mean you don't remember us? Some friend you are," the bee said rather inconsiderately.

"Friend? I'm your...friend?" Shadow asked.

Charmy flew up behind him. "Yeah! Remember Metal Sonic? We fought together!"

"Yes, I remember that, but before that I remember nothing. That's why I'm here. I need the Chaos Emeralds."

"Oh. I'll help you! But can you help me find those discs?"

"Fine." Shadow said. He wasn't giving in because he liked Charmy, he was just very annoying.

"Woohoo!" Charmy said. "I'll take the lead!" He buzzed off.

"No, wait! It's dangerous!" Shadow called. He followed the bee to a raised path above the river of acid. There was a group of black warriors there.

"Hey, I think I saw something sparkle over there!" Charmy said, pointing in that direction. A black warrior moved, revealing a sparkling, floating compact disc. Charmy zoomed over as if the black aliens weren't even there. Once there, he scooped up the disc. The words '**Project: Shadow**' in bold black letters went unnoticed by him. Also unnoticed by him was a black warrior that pointed its silver laser gun at the bee but was destroyed by a flying punch from Shadow. Charmy turned around, completely missing what happened.

"Yes! Found one!" he said.

"Be more careful." warned Shadow.

"Look! It's those evil creatures!" yelled Charmy, pointing at two black warriors behind Shadow.

Shadow elbowed one in the gut without even turning around to look at his target. The other shot a blast from its laser at him but he appeared behind it and delivered a hand-chop to its back, destroying it.

"Shadow, you're so cool." Charmy said. "Let's go find the rest 'a those discs!"

Shadow felt as if is was going to be LONG day...

The two came to a pathway, both sides lined with jail cells. The jail cells housed sleeping Black Arms. Shadow did not know how they got into the cells, but he knew if the two had been very quiet, they would have avoided waking them.

They _would have_.

"Hey, look at all the creatures!" yelled a foolish bee. Shadow placed a hand over his (own) face.

A black oak sat in the middle of one cell, Indian style. It was asleep, until he heard a certain bee's loud voice. It opened its yellow, pupil-less eyes, stood up and walked toward the bars of the cell. With great strength, it pulled two bars clean off, and stepped out into freedom. It laid its bright eyes on what woke it.

"Great, now look what you've done!" Shadow yelled. He skated toward the black oak and started punching its leg rapidly. This felt like a tap from a pencil to the oak. With a mighty hand, it knocked Shadow to the side like a rag doll. The black oak continued stomping toward Charmy with footsteps that would have shaken Charmy, hadn't he been flying.

"Easy..easy now.." Charmy nervously said. He turned and flew off but was shortly trapped by the huge hand of the black oak. This was short lived, however, as the oak quickly felt something like a needle poke his hand and let him loose, and growled in pain as there was a swollen red bump on the palm of its hand.

Shadow took his chance. He jumped up to the sore and repeatedly punched it, causing the black monster immense pain. The black creature backed away, trying to escape the black hedgehog. When it had its back turned, Shadow eliminated it with a chaos spear.

"Thanks Shadow, you're so cool!" Charmy said again, restating his admiration with Shadow.

"Whatever. Don't tell anyone."

"Oooookay, hey there's another disc!" Charmy said and flew into the cage of the defeated black oak and picked up the disc. "Only three more!"

_Yeah_, Shadow thought, _three more discs and I'll finally be rid of this annoying creature and will be able to get back on track!_

Out of nowhere, three heavy, two legged mechs fell down from the sky. They were color-coded. One was red, the other blue, and the last yellow. They were Big Foots, some of GUN's strongest mechs.

"Who are these clowns?" Shadow charged.

"Shadow the Hedgehog," the pilot in the red one said. "We've finally caught up with you. Put your hands up. You are wanted in connection with the attacks on several cities."

"Yeah, I know," Shadow said, not even bothering to explain how he was innocent.

"Good. Now come with us."

"Nah, that's not gonna happen."

"Fine. Then you've chosen the hard way. Men, get ready!"

"Yes, sir!" the pilots of the blue and yellow mechs said, saluting their boss from inside their cockpits. Machine guns from underneath each of the three robot's cockpits turned to face Shadow. With a flurry of bullets, they attacked, leaving a cloud of smoke.

When the cloud disappeared, the black hedgehog was nowhere to be found.

"Wow," the blue pilot said. "We did it! We totally decimated that guy! We don't know our own strength, huh?"

"Don't be a fool, soldier." the red pilot said. "He's not dead yet. It would take way more than _that_ to defeat Shadow the hedgehog."

"But sir," the yellow pilot added, "he's just a little hedgehog! A rodent! How hard could it be to kill him?"

"He's strong." the red pilot answered. "Just remember, he's strong. He nearly destroyed the whole planet by himself once."

"Sir, how do you know this?"

"Never mind. Just find-"

"Sorry to interrupt your little tea party, but I haven't got all day." came a voice from behind them. Their cockpits whirled around to see Shadow, with three huge chaos spears, each pointing to a mech.

"And now...goodbye," said Shadow, and launched the energy arrows at the mechs. They exploded in a matter of seconds. No trace of the soldiers were left. Three sparkling discs floated down where the giant mechs used to be.

"Yay! The last three!" Charmy exclaimed as he zoomed over and collected them. "Thanks Shadow!" he said and flew off.

"Finally," Shadow said, and headed out of an exit at the end of the path. He walked into the sunlight. A vast ocean separated him and the island from the outside world. But that was no problem for him. Pulling out a yellow emerald, he yelled: "Chao-ugh!"

He fell to his knees. His head ached. The same vision portrayed in his mind. Him in a pod! The headache became intense, and he dropped the yellow emerald. Pulling out a blue one, he yelled, "Chaos Control!" and disappeared.


End file.
